Home
"Home" 'is a song by English singer-songwriter Michael Mikey Brennan. The original iPhone recorded acoustic version first premiered - along with "The Drinking Song" - on Brennan's YouTube channel on 30th January, 2016Michael Mikey Brennan - Home (Original Version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0FA-iFxOu0Michael Mikey Brennan - The Drinking Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuhwNkRajcE and was later distributed and released to a range of downloading and streaming services, including Apple Music and Spotify on 29th March, 2016.Michael Mikey Brennan - Home (2016) on Apple Music https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/home-single/1098012248Michael Mikey Brennan - Home on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/2wa90RJZ0x1smgWTDXnLP2 A re-recorded version produced by Tom Blashford with additional instruments was recorded in late 2016 and released on 1st February, 2017,Michael Mikey Brennan - Home (2017 Version) on Apple Music https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/home-single/1201480835 which was later on followed up with the release of an extended play on 20th March,Michael Mikey Brennan - Home EP on Apple Music https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/home-ep/1217158481 of which comprised of the single itself, an instrumental version, radio edit version, acoustic version, a remix by Soundrone and a b-side track titled, "Here For You".Michael Mikey Brennan - Home EP on Apple Music https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/home-ep/1217158481 Background After releasing his debut album, 'Michael Mikey Brennan' in July, 2015 Brennan graduated from secondary school, Bower Grove School where he recorded his album, leaving all his producers who helped him make the album and other recordings inducing his covers behind, leaving him an independent artist who now had to write and produce his material by himself. He wrote the song during his summer break. The song was mainly inspired by songs like John Denver's 'Take Me Home, Country Roads'Michael Mikey Brennan (@MMikeyBrennan) on Twitter - 31st December, 2017 #HappyBirthdayJohnDenver https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/947275543661162497 and 'Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)'. In a blog post on Tumblr, Brennan revealed the inspiration behind the song: “''One day, in the summer of 2015, I went up to Barming where some of my old school mates used to live. We had just graduated as Year 11 students, finished our GCSE studies and we had finished and left school and were going onto college in September. It was heartbreaking after graduating as we all had to say goodbye to each other and were all going to be separated once September approached. We were all 16, young, reckless and fresh and we all just wanted to make the most of the summer holidays before moving on in the Autumn, and one day I got a text from my mates saying, ‘Hey Mike, come and hang out with us in Barming today, it will be a laugh!’ and I basically said, ‘sure f**k it!’, you only live once after all. Plus, hanging out with my mates is like one of my favourite things to do! We had a great day you know, ‘hanging out’ doing some random teenage stuff, lad stuff and that! When we finished ‘hanging out’ it was about 5 o’ clock in the evening and I said to my mates, ‘Lads, it’s getting late I better go home now”. First of all, let me point out that Barming is miles away from where I live (I’d rather not give out the location of my home if that’s okay), you have to catch a train to get back to my house from Barming. After I said goodbye to my mates I walked to the train station but there were no more trains going to my location and then I tried the closest Bus station to Barming and there were no buses to take me home either (there weren’t any taxis either), I would have called my parents and asked them to pick me up but unfortunately they were away for the weekend and I didn’t want to spoil their holiday, so I ended up walking all the way home and whilst I was walking home I started singing, ‘I wanna’ go home’ multiple times and just thought up all the rest of the lyrics and the tune whilst walking home. When I got home eventually it was about 11 o’ clock at night and I went straight to bed and when I woke up in the morning I just got some paper and my guitar and started writing the song”. Composition "Home" was composed in the key of D major, the verses follow a C-D-G chord progression, the interludes and choruses follow a D-G chord progression, the pre-choruses follows a C-F-D chord progression, the bridge follows a C-D-G chord progression and the ending verse follows a G-D Chord progression. It was composed in August 2015. Brennan tweeted on 3rd August, 2015 saying: "Finished writing the lyrics to my new original song, 'Home' I shall be writing the chords tomorrow".'''MichaelMikeyBrennan (@MMikeyBrennan) on Twitter https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/628311660541906944 Release On 4th January, 2016 Brennan announced that he would be releasing two new original songs titled 'Home' and 'The Drinking Song' to YouTube on 30th January, 2016. The alternate version 'Home' was released as an audio track to Brennan's YouTube channel on 30th January, 2016 and on the same day confirmed that the song would be on iTunes and all the other popular music downloading stores and streaming services shorty soon too, although confirming that he was unaware of when. On 9th October, 2016 Brennan confirmed that the new "official studio version" was coming soon, although he did not confirm when. However he confirmed on 19th October, 2016 that the song was "almost finished and (was going to be released) to iTunes near Christmas", but also stated that it would only be released by Christmas if "all went according to plan". On 30th October, 2016 he confirmed that the song had been "re-recorded and (that he was) very proud of it!" and confirmed that he was still "aiming for a Christmas release", however at the time despite having finished recording it, the song was still in production and Tone B. was still in progress of editing, mixing and mastering it. In the end, it was not released around Christmas time like he said it hopefully would be, he posted a status on Facebook aplogising to his fans and promised them that it would definitely be released in early 2017 but did not confirm when specifically. On 14th January, 2016 before the release of the re-recorded version of 'Home', Brennan gave his fans an early limited preview listen of the "new version" of 'Home' on his SoundCloud page. The preview was limited for 2 days before Brennan changed the settings to private, but he confirmed to his SoundCloud listeners that the song's settings would be changed back to public on 1st February, 2016 when 'Home' was due to be released. Recording The original non-studio un-edited acoustic Alternate version (also known as the demo version) of 'Home' was recorded on Brennan's iPhone on 14th September, 2015 when Brennan tweeted saying: "Finished recording my new original song, 'Home' just need to master it now".MichaelMikeyBrennan (@MMikeyBrennan) on Twitter https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/643411879008825345 However, in late 2016 Brennan began re-recording the song with the help of producer, Tom Blashford. The new version of the song remained in the same key but new instruments such as Harmonica and Hammond Organ (played by Tone B.) were added to the song's arrangement in addition to Brennan's vocals and acoustic guitar. Although originally Brennan wanted the re-recorded version to be just vocals and acoustic guitar, just like the original version but with better quality, Blashford suggested expanded on it to make it "more interesting" to the listening audience and newer than the original. The new instrumentation arrangement of 'Home' was inspired by the work of Bob Dylan (this particularly applied to the use of harmonica) who became a big impact on the new Folk style of Brennan's music when Blashford and Brennan continued making music after 'Home'. Brennan also confirmed that it was Dylan's song 'Blowin' In The Wind' that inspired the instrumentation arrangement, although he confirmed that this was Blashford's idea, not his. The Dylan inspired elements from the song appeared to be quite recognisable to listening audience, both Laura Beck and Ben Gurney noticed this and reviewed the song comparing it to Dylan's sound, Beck stated that the song "has a Bob Dylan feel to it" and Gurney commented on the song saying that it was "Very Bob Dylan influenced!". Producer, Blashford also stated that the instrumental version of 'Home' which was featured on the EP had a lot of Progressive Rock influences to the arrangement, especially with the use of Mellotron (The music of Progressive Rock bands such as Yes and Pink Floyd inspired the arrangement of the instrumental version). Critical Reception UNIT Radio'sUNIT Radio - Official Website http://www.unitradio.co.uk'The 2 Show'UNIT Radio - The 2 Show http://www.unitradio.co.uk/?page_id=291 co-host, Bailey AbsonBailey Abson (@AbsonJack) - Twitter https://twitter.com/AbsonJack called the song a "very well made track, with relatable lyrics, fine and clean production and an emotional vocal performance".Bailey Abson reviews 'Home' https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/834530645128916992 YouTuber Daniel "Dan" Barrett (Known as "TeenCoulson" on YouTubeDan Barrett ("TeenCoulson") - Official YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/teencoulson) called the song, "a masterpiece".TeenCoulson reviews 'Home' https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/830407776375541760 MidKent College staff members such as Ben GurneyBen Gurney (@BenMusicTech) - Twitter https://twitter.com/benmusictech (Music Technology lecture), Laura Beck (Performing Arts lecture), Helene Gannon (Personal Tutor), Eleanor "Ellie" Williams (Learning support assistant) and Maria Cates (Curriculum Plus Tutor) also reviewed the song.Maria Cates (MidKent College Curriculum Plus Tutor) reviews Michael Mikey Brennan's song, 'Home' https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/847025736821157889 Beck was surprised with this new song of Brennan's due to the different genre, 'Home' being folk as opposed to Brennan's before stuff that were all pop: "Very different style to the other ones that I have heard" she said, however she admired Brennan's new style and him experimenting on something new, stating that: "It's great to hear Brennan experimenting!", implying that it was nice to see Brennan trying something new and taking on a new genre and modernising old Folk and Country with nowadays Pop music. Cates made a similar comment on the song and said: "Masterpiece, impressive but very tricky to do a style that's different to you" implying that taking on a new genre would have been quite a challenge for Brennan. Gannon commented on the "good quality" of the production of the song and congratulated the work of producer Tone B, stating that: "It is a great experiment to see how the different instruments work together". Williams commented on the quality of Brennan's songwriting, stating that: "It's quite tricky composing 'catchy' music" pointing out the talent Brennan process as a songwriter. Loads of people including Williams, have described the song as a "very catchy song!" Gurney and Beck compared the sound of the song's instrumentation arrangement to Bob Dylan's music and Dylan's style. Beck said that the song has a "Bob Dylan feel to it" and Gurney described the song as "Very Bob Dylan influenced!". Producer and fellow friend of Brennan, Morgan Black reviewed the song too and said: "To know a good guy is one thing, to know a good song is another. Both put together and it's amazing!".Morgan Black reviews 'Home' https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/837248781481558016 Singer-songwriter, musician, self-producer and friend of Brennan, MZime said that the song is "One of the best songs [Brennan has} written, next to 'The Best Day Of My Life'". Live Performances On 7th July, 2016 before the release of the re-recorded version of the song, Brennan performed the song live on Radio Sunlight's Thursday Night Project podcast show, Brennan introduced the song by saying: "This songs called 'Home', which is about wanting to go home! I wrote it last summer when I went up to Barming (which is miles away from where I lived) to hang out with my mates and by the time we finished hanging out it was about 5 o' clock at night, and there were no buses to take me home and I had to walk all the way home". Shortly after releasing the re-recorded version of 'Home' in February, 2017 Thursday Night Project radio presenter, James Ongley played the song on the air on 16th February, 2017 and on the same day Brennan performed the song on the show once again. B-Side: "Here For You" The 'Home EP' featured the single, 'Home' along with four other different version of the song - a remix version by Soundrone, an acoustic version, a radio edit version and an instrumental version - and a b-side original song titled, "Here For You". Brennan confirmed that 'Here For You' was written about a friend of his - a girl who suffers from Anxiety and Depression - (Brennan also suffers from Anxiety). Brennan also admitted that 'Here For You' was inspired by Justin Bieber's song, 'Be Alright' (from 'Believe'). - "I was listening to 'Believe Acoustic' and after hearing the acoustic version of Alright' I got inspired to write a song of my own with a similar subject". ''-'' ''Brennan on inspiration for 'Here For You'. ''The audio track of song was uploaded to Brennan's YouTube channel on 19th March, 2017.'Here For You' - Audio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELILFEY05xY References